Your Mind as the Key to Time Travel

Before you say no, consider this; when you think of peanut butter, you probably also think of jelly, and then probably bread.

Or, when you remember the fun you had skiing last winter, you may then also think of the hot chocolate you had afterward, what clothes you were wearing on the slopes, the actual trip to the ski resort and so on.

As one memory connects with another, you eventually develop a scenario in your mind which takes you an event from your past.

Call it mental time-traveling.

But being able to explain this phenomenon, called linked memories or episodic memory, has proved difficult to pin down.

The participants, all epilepsy patients, had between 50 and 150 electrodes implanted throughout their brains, allowing Kahana’s team to directly record brain activity.

While studying these brain recordings, researchers noticed that when patients recalled a word, they’d bring back – not only the thoughts associated with the word itself – but also remnants of thoughts associated with other words they studied nearby in time.

The scientists say their findings provide a brain-based explanation of a memory phenomenon that people experience every day.

2 Responses to “Your Mind as the Key to Time Travel”

Don’t be so sure. A new study shows that when you think about flying through outer space, you’re actually forming mental images that may become associated with memory.

See how stupidly unscientific that is?

The above study has absolutely nothing to do with “time travel”, and to label it as such is both poor science, and irresponsible journalism.

The linkage of memories to events and to each other is in no way a new discovery. The linkage of these conceptual frameworks to physiological activity is interesting — but again — nothing new. Countless studies of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder have revealed similar linkages and physiological / biochemical connections to the symptoms.

I like the idea of mental time traveling and this is something everyone does on a daily basis. How many of you always say I wish I can go back. Well that though is your brain in time travel mode. Cool article!